quick test file short drums with bass from home studio

i57dwun4yb1pt8

how does this sound ( note its an mp3 )


http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/72504-drum-bass-test1.mp3







too toppy ?
snare too thin ?
bass too loud ?

studiorat

hey, hard to tell if the bass is too loud 'cause it's the only other thing in the track.

It's just a taste thing really but I'm not sure about the tuning of the snare, I prefer a little more resonance and a bit of ring. Maybe a bit more mid in the hat and cymbals.
I personally don't like that wet kick drum sound, slappy. But I reckon the biggest thing issue is that the toms could be a little deeper sounding, they have that slappy sound off them too.

Though a good sounding kit all things said.

ZV Yoda

Nice job taking out the room ambience…I can’t hear the room at all (and having seen your setup first hand, I'd say most people would be hard pressed to figure out that this was tracked in such a small room).

Also, it sounds to me like you’ve nailed the tracking / mic placement side of things. Once the basics of tracking are OK, drum sound can be very subjective. To my ears, the toms & cymbals are super.

The crashes sound great – really good job on mic placement & playing balance there. Personally, I’d prefer more bell/ping volume on the ride cymbal – I think it might get lost with a full band, but that’s just a personal preference.

Lovely thump & tone off the toms too (panned & tuned to perfection too!).

Your snare is good & snappy … volume-wise seems OK to me, but would need really to be judged in the context of a full band.

Overall, I’d say the snare & kick need more presence (I think parallel compression has been discussed in this context on here before?) but that’s hard to judge with just the bass guitar in the background.

I’m not really in position to offer anything constructive on the bass guitar… sounds like you’re playing with a bit of overdrive?..

Anyway, great job on getting the sound to that level… did you use any samples in there?... they’re well hidden if you did!

I might post some stuff in the next day or so. I’ve hit a brick wall with my own drum sound at the minute & still have a way to go to get my sound to the same level you have. Would be good to get your advice & the other folks on here.

fitz

Bass sounds a bit honky to me.
Well played drums, but I'm with Rat on this one. More depth needed. Toms in particular are very "short" sounding, though maybe that's what you're going for...

i57dwun4yb1pt8

thanks for the help - i only banged this clip out in 10 minutes last night , so its a bit rushed .


have a tiny little ambience added back using SIR reverb to the kit sub mix ( this sub mix is bar the kick )
i have squashed duplicate of the overheads blended underneath the over all drum sub mix to dirty it all up a bit
no samples in this one at all ( im trying to avoid them )


im using oktava mk12 overheads one 3 feet above and in front of the outer forward edge of right ( from the front ) small tom pointing down over the right crash edge to the snare drum
left 4 feet above the floor tom rear rim poinint at the ride / left crash and a bit to the snare , both are measured to be exactly same distance from snare .

snare is a josephson c42
as is the hi hat mic
small tom = 57
floor tom = audix i5 - might use an nd868 instead
kick akg d112

i agree the kick and snare could be a bit more up front - i may dual mic the kick as it still sounds a bit td20
toms are gated , so this could be shoretning ther decay .


its very hard to get a resonant kick toms and snare in a totally dead room thats 8 by 8 by 7 high -
id rather a closed head kick and mic it ambiently - but the room is titchy to do this.
i might see if i can do it with SIR.


the bass is not over driven,
but there is a touch of boost at 180 and 40 - its a passive aggressive bass ;-)
( aria sbr 80 from 1983 )

i got an aguilar tone hammer today to sweeten her up a bit .




yoda , im no expert ,
but if you wanna organise me coming out to muck around in your place id be happy to if it will help.
the main thing for drums in a crap room with a low ceiling is to dampen the ceiling well , and keep the floor relective
and close mic the lot .

so now i need to find more depth and liveleiness .

ZV Yoda

DaDumTish wrote: »

yoda , im no expert ,
but if you wanna organise me coming out to muck around in your place id be happy to if it will help.
the main thing for drums in a crap room with a low ceiling is to dampen the ceiling well , and keep the floor relective
and close mic the lot .

so now i need to find more depth and liveleiness .

Thanks for that - I'll take you up on that offer if you don't mind. I'm away this w/e, but will drop you a PM to organise something maybe next week/week-end.. whatever suits you?

i57dwun4yb1pt8

yeah next saturday or sunday is good